Years active 1949–2000 Name Raf Vallone | Role Footballer Education University of Turin | |
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Full Name Raffaele Vallone Born 17 February 1916 ( 1916-02-17 ) Tropea, Calabria, Italy Died October 31, 2002, Rome, Italy Spouse Elena Varzi (m. 1952–2002) Children Eleonora Vallone, Saverio Vallone, Arabella Vallone Movies Bitter Rice, Two Women, El Cid, The Godfather Part III, The Italian Job Similar People Elena Varzi, Giuseppe De Santis, Eleonora Vallone, Saverio Vallone, Alberto Lattuada | ||
Raf vallone canta sarra chi sa a il musichiere 1959
Raffaele "Raf" Vallone (17 February 1916 – 31 October 2002) was an Italian footballer and international film star.
Born in Tropea, Calabria, the son of a lawyer, Vallone attended Liceo classico Cavour in Turin, and studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Turin and entered his father's law firm. He played professional football at a young age, playing in Serie A for Torino. He won the Coppa Italia with his team in season 1935–1936. He subsequently became the editorial head of the culture section of L'Unità, then the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party, and also a film and drama critic for the Turin newspaper La Stampa. During World War II, Vallone served with the Communist resistance.
His first film appearance was as a sailor in We the Living (1942), but Vallone was not initially interested in an acting career. Nevertheless, he was cast as a soldier competing with Vittorio Gassman for the love of Silvana Mangano in Riso amaro (Bitter Rice) (1949). The film became a neo-realist classic and Vallone was launched on an international career. In 2001, he published his autobiography, L'alfabeto della memoria, with Gremese (Rome). Vallone was married to actress Elena Varzi from 1952 until his death. They had three children, two of whom are actors, Eleonora Vallone and Saverio Vallone. He died in Rome on 31 October 2002.
